22
2011
Meaningful Games In September, Requires Meaningful Spending In Offseason
An article by 
It certainly was eye-opening to read about what the Texas Rangers gave closer Joe Nathan, who is coming off Tommy John surgery. At 37, Nathan will get a two-year deal worth $14.5 million.
Is he worth it?
Apparently he is to the Texas Rangers, who’ll be writing the checks, and that’s all that really matters. If Nathan stays healthy and returns close to form, and Netfali Feliz makes the transition to the rotation, it would be like making two deals.
Feliz is a hard thrower, and in theory moving him to the rotation is similar to what the Mets wanted to do with Bobby Parnell. But, Parnell had his issues, such as an inability to master his secondary pitches and stretches where he loses his command.
I believe it is easier to find a reliable closer than it is a dominant starter, so I would not be adverse to giving Parnell another shot at the rotation if he gets down his secondary pitches, but there’s been no indication he’s heading in that direction.
The most shocking thing about the Nathan signing was the Mets were supposedly injured. There’s no way Sandy Alderson would have approached what the Rangers gave him, and if he believes he had a chance to sign Nathan then he’s underestimated the market.
The Phillies acquired Ty Wiggington for a player to be named later. Surely, the Mets could have matched that price. The Phillies also signed Jonathan Papelbon, who fled the sinking Red Sox. Wiggington won’t off-set the loss of Ryan Howard, but at least the Phillies are doing something.
So are the Nationals, who are talking with Mark Buehrle, and expect to be active this winter. Buehrle could be an effective innings eater, but is completely out of the Mets’ price range.
Reportedly, the Nationals are also interested in Jose Reyes, although there’s been no offter there. Whatever additions the Nationals make, it won’t be enough to catch Philadelphia and Atlanta, but I don’t think that’s the point with them.
Do you remember when Fred Wilpon once said he wanted the Mets to play meaningful games in September? That’s the point, especially in a front-runner oriented city such as Washington. If the Nationals play interesting ball deep into the summer and are competitive, people will come out to the park and that’s the issue.
Sure, winning would be nice, but winning is also expensive. Just being competitive – good but not too good – is the way to go for most teams because it keeps the interest up.
Detroit and Milwaukee, reportedly, also are interested in Reyes, but there’s nothing hot with either of those teams now. The strongest interest is coming from Miami, but things will get more active at the winter meetings as the new collective bargaining agreement brought no significant changes that would deter free-agent signings and teams making their budgets.
About the Author: John Delcos
I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
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I understand the point to say money needs to be invested to make a team better. I get that point. But you are bringing up wacky stuff here. Why would the Mets be involved for Wiggy when every backup they have plays either 1, 3B or 2B? Talk talk about about being being redundant redundant. And honestly, I wanted this team so sign Nathan to an incentive laden deal, but what the Rangers offered was a shock. Same for Papsmear in Philly (regarding what he signed for). All 3 of those signings make no sense fiscally and honestly injury and age wise. As for Creme Buehrle… Yes, he would totally help this team. So would CJ Wilson. But this is about as weak a SP market I’ve ever seen. I’d rather they got involved for Danks or Gio Gonzalez. But those GMs know it’s a weak market as well. Beane wanted Morrison or Stanton for Gio. Holy rusted metal Batman! So, I hope Alderson can work some magic and package a couple of Murphy, Gee/Pelfrey, Fmart or others and find a Danks type. I’m not overly optomistic on that front, though.
The only one on the entire market that makes sense for the Mets is retaining Reyes. I don’t think they will, but he is a long term plan and should be invested in. Maybe this whole “increasing the debt ratio” thing allows the Mets to do just that. (I don’t think it will, but that’s the pessimist [read: Mets fan] in me).
So, all in all, my point is I agree that money needs to be spent (wisely), but being reactionary on the rumors and signings thus far is just silly.
agree 100% tex.
Yea, probably early to say the mets have done nothing but the silence can be deafening !! With the mets this offseason, it might be a case of once the first domino falls things will fall into place. The Reyes situation leaves us frozen in time, if it drags out too long it could be a problem.
Wiggy for pnl seems like a good deal to me even thou we have his types already. Otherwise, these guys are going for a lot of dough, the mets are better off trading for a starter then paying big for the weak sp fa’s, or they are better off going for this years version of cap and pay for some bullpen help.hopefully the rule 5 draft won’t be our top offseason work…
That’s the most lucid statement I’ve heard on this subject in some time.
It’s going to take time, I’m taking the same vacation Reyes and his agent is taking. Don’t eat too much out there over the weekend everybody!
Well NJTex I don’t think his point was to say we should be involved in Wiggy, But that we should be involved in free agency in an attempt to make the team better than the year before!
It’s one thing to say your going to draft and build from within.
No one has a problem with that long term goal.
Where the issue and arguments lay is that some people think you need to neglect the MLB squad to do that!
As if the MLB squad can be ignored and even dismantled while that is being done.
These payroll cuts are not making things better they are in fact making things worse.
We lost 70 Mil last year with Beltran, Reyes and K-Rod on the team plus being competitive right up until the trading deadline.
That suggests we would have to maintain current attendance plus get our payroll down to 70 Mil before the financial issue was solved. And we will NOT maintain the attendance we had last year without Beltran and Reyes on the team. It will be far less! We won’t win as much so we lose that, We wouldn’t have the people who love Reyes and Beltran going either so now you have you are forced to cut another 20M from the payroll to get back into the black!
Now your payroll is 50M…
Say goodbye to Wright, and his draw to the stadium as well.
Lose more money! Ok your only losing 10-20 Mil now but who do you cut now?
Bay and Santana have another year before they can be cut from payroll.
Whats the eventual outcome? a 40 Mil salary, no one showing up and Hellp NY Pirates!
And how many kids we draft will be able to come in and take their place by 2014?
How many will be ready and be able to renew fan interest in going to the stadium?
Harvey, Familia, and who else? (I think there are a few but those who like this cut and slash plan don’t!)
Baseball is a business we all get that, But business doesn’t save money by getting rid of the products that bring people into the store.
They do it by getting rid of the products that do not help you sell and keep the few items people like!
We seem to be doing the opposite and it would be fine if we were using some of the savings we have made to date to get better players who while they may not be a star draw would contribute to the wins that are needed to maintain that attendance.
This is the missing part of Sandy’s plan.
J Delcos hit the nail on the head here!
Sandy hasn’t really been a GM for quite awhile!
He seems to have no clue what the Market is these days!
He thinks Reyes is a 5 Year 80 Mil product.
He thought he had a shot at signing Nathan.
He practically had a stroke when Werth and Crawford got signed!
No other GM really had such issues they have been in the game!
Sandy needs to realize that you can no longer build a team with 1-2 Mil players anymore!
Those days are long gone!
There are no longer UNDERVALUED players in fact EVERY PLAYER is OVERVALUED!
Yes the payroll is not being covered by the Attendance revenue. But the fix involves fixing the attendance not cutting the payroll wholesale.
And if he can’t do that AND draft the kids who can solve his payroll flexibility issues in the future then time has passed him by and it might be time to find a guy like Epstein who didn’t need a firesale to make his team competitive, Made each season count, and drafted so that he didn’t have to go buy when he didn’t want to all at the SAME TIME!
No one is suggesting that he goes and sign 10 guys at 10-20 mil…
But you know a few 5-8 mil players might actually do enough to draw fans as having Reyes might.
He wants to build from the draft thats fine but that doesn’t mean he has to ignore and gut the MLB squad to accomplish that.Cause that causes even MORE financial difficulty!
And that is the major knock people have with Sandy right now!
Yes, a couple 5 million dollar players would help, for sure. But there is still plenty of time and available players. Just playing the waiting game. Impatience kills. It kills the fans emotionally, but it ruins a team financially.
“But there is still plenty of time and available players”
Fewer and Fewer each day!
If he is going to get someone in that area of Payroll he will get them just as easily now as he might later. In fact later other teams will have first shot at them meaning less selection.
Impatience doesn’t kill.
Procrastination does! Kills time and resources that could be used on other improvements.
The Cubs have let it be known that Matt Garza is on the market. If only i could be sure Daniel Murphy was going to be 100% because I would dangle Wright in a deal for Garza, give the 3B job to Murphy and let him know he has it this way maybe he could be more relaxed in ST knowing he wouldn’t have to be fighting for a job maybe he’d perform better in the field.
Of course this is contingent on signing Reyes and I doubt it’s going to be done even if the price is affordable. I have no reason to believe if another GM were running the show he’d make a better attempt to court Reyes and maybe this off season would have a better feel to it. But that’s no the case unfortunately.
There is so much creativity a GM who wants to win can use to keep the Mets in contention for 2012 and keep the fan base interested it’s a crime this GM Mets have now is running the show. Aside from all the Mets financial woes and the recent posts here addressing it…there is still a BUDGET and we should be using that budget to try and win as best we can.
You can’t tell me that saving as much money as possible even if you think the team is good enough to compete in 2012 is the way to go. That’s the same type of thinking Alderson showed last year when he had LESS money to work with but a better roster handed to him. Now he has more money to work with and still a good roster to work with and help build into a contender for 2012. I don’t know what the hell this guy is thinking.
How about some creative trades? With Garza available there’s a chance..but of course you have to sign Reyes. Even Jurrgens is available so young starting pitching is available now do your JOB and get the fans interested.
His job isn’t to keep the fans interested. It is to clear payroll. Don’t you get that by now? Because if you don’t, Dave Howard has some tickets they’d like to sell you.
It’s ALL OF IT! That’s what a General Manager is supposed to do in any job. He oversees all of that.
He can:
- Try and compete with whatever budget he has
- Keep the fan base enthused and try to win AND build the minors at the same time
But maybe you’re right because he’s certainly NOT keeping the fans interested and he’s losing them by the droves and losing money. Keeping the fans interested is PART OF THE JOB buddy
You can make a case for every player to be signed or make a case why he would not be a fit for the club but we are doing nothing except for minor leaguers. I am starting to really believe some of my fellow Met bloggers when they say this team is flat broke and bleeding money and we are not playing. Agents are probably not even calling the Mets because I believe the word is out we have no money to spend especially with Reyes still out there.
The Rangers overpaid for Nathan.
The Mets are at least $400MM in debt, according to reports, and can’t afford to spend money freely, especially on players with injury/age questions such as Nathan.
As for Reyes, it seems like other teams are being cautious about making him an offer (save for Miami). The Mets would be smart to avoid a bidding war for him.
John -
Thank you for saying this.
2-Cat
If I were the Mets I would make my BEST offer to Reyes and give him a day to get back and if he didn’t I would wish him well and move on. We need to move forward and can’t afford these “silly” games. While we fool around we are not competing for talent we need.This is what they do in the world of business and it should be no different for the Mets.
I agree that they need to come to a resolution soon so they can move on with plan B if needed.
I would agree, but Reyes is such a game changer. Reyes’ status directly affects Tejada, Pagan, Murphy, Turner and Wright. They need to get that settled before they truly know what their 2012 roster will look like.
Breaking: Jerry Seinfeld named his new puppy after Jose Reyes.
Top THAT, Miami!
jose Reyes ‘ agent said reyes got a kicked out of that.. seinfeld also lobby for the mets to sign reyes… if that what it takes to keep him here, so be it. but i think sandy should be the one saying it in public, show reyes he really wants him here, but…………………………………
So, when he called Reyes exciting and an important part of the Mets success, that meant nothing?
Nope meant nothing!
Of course not, because it does not coincide with the narrative you and Alex and other parties are clinging to, despite evidence to the contrary.
Metsie, happy thanksgiving to you and your spare partner donal…
Thanks Alex, I do have the spare seat tradition here…
But only for those who get invited in, Donal wouldn’t make it past the driveway before the first trespassing shot was fired! LOL
LOL, good one metsie…
I find it harder and harder to stay enthusiastic about the Mets when they won’t spend the money to make the team competitive. The Nationals and Marlins are willing to spend big bucks and already have many more impressive young players than the Mets. Unfortunately, the commissioner is trying to keep the Wilpons afloat instead of urging them to sell the team. When you try to get excited about signing Vinny Rottino and Adam Loewen, that’s getting pretty desperate. The Mets aren’t supposed to be competing with the Long Island Ducks, but frankly those are the kinds of players I would expect the Ducks to sign.
“I find it harder and harder to stay enthusiastic about the Mets when they won’t spend the money to make the team competitive.”
I’d rather wait to get our house in order than go and cut checks just to watch some over the hill player burn out.
“The Nationals and Marlins are willing to spend big bucks and already have many more impressive young players than the Mets.”
Jayson Werth got you that pumped up? Because, last I checked, that is the only big FA either of those teams has signed in the last 2 years.
Also, the Mets are trying to build that impressive young talent base. It just takes time.
“When you try to get excited about signing Vinny Rottino and Adam Loewen, that’s getting pretty desperate.”
I agree. Who got excited over them?
” The Mets aren’t supposed to be competing with the Long Island Ducks, but frankly those are the kinds of players I would expect the Ducks to sign.”
No, those are kinds of players you expect to see in the minors and maybe as fillers on the big club for injuries.
Why is it whenever someone signs someone Met fans say “how come we didn’t get him”. Ty Wigginton, really, how does he help. And Joe Nathan is not coming off Tommy John surgery he is one year removed and pitched much better in the second half last year. Stop whining and get your facts straight